Answer: 1

Wordsworth regards Milton not only as the great epic poet of England but also the Champion of liberty during the Civil War that took place (in 1642-48) between the Royalists and the Puritans. That is why he passionately calls upon Milton to come back to life and take the leadership in rescuing the people of his time from the evil of corruption and materialism. The poet thinks that the people of England are passing through a moral and spiritual crisis, and English life has become as filthy and unwholesome as the stagnant water of a low marshy land. Almost all classes of people — the priests, the soldiers, the writers, and the aristocrats have forgotten their heroic tradition of the past and lost their ‘inward happiness’ of their too much attachment to materialism. Being in the middle of worldly affairs and falling into a spiritual vacuum the English people have become extremely selfish. So the poet wishes that at this critical moment, Milton should return to life and make the English people courteous, virtuous, freedom-loving, and powerful, and thus uplift their moral and spiritual standards.

Answer: 2

In William Wordsworth’s poem “London, 1802,” he does not request John Milton, the renowned English poet of the 17th century, to physically return to England because Milton had already passed away in 1674 and could not be brought back to life. Instead, Wordsworth is using Milton as a symbolic and idealized figure to represent the kind of poetic and moral values that he believed England needed at the time.

In the poem, Wordsworth is lamenting the moral and spiritual decay he sees in his contemporary England. He is calling for a return to the virtues and values that he associates with Milton and his poetry, which he views as embodying a more noble and virtuous spirit. Wordsworth praises Milton for his eloquence and his commitment to truth, virtue, and liberty. He longs for a return to a time when England was guided by such high principles, and he implores that Milton’s spirit be a source of inspiration for the English people.

Wordsworth’s request for Milton to “return to England” is a metaphorical and rhetorical device to emphasize his desire for a return to the moral and intellectual greatness that he believes Milton represents. Wordsworth believes that by invoking the spirit and influence of Milton, the English people can be inspired to rediscover and uphold these virtues in their own time.